Conversation
Shall we talk of God
you and I, or shall we leave
G-O-D and make
this word of countless mysteries
a window
on to the processes
o relationship and being,
of the pull of memory
and the light of prophecy,
opening arms
and coming home? by Joy Mead

I have been thinking a lot about community recently and how we can have the conversations that draw us closer to each other and to God, so this poem by Joy Mead resonated with me as I flicked through her collection. During Lent we have more opportunities than usual to talk, we are meeting in a variety of groups and conversing about the mystery we call God.

At our first ‘Lent Elevenses’ session I was moved to see how quickly a collection of random folk, were able to share their stories across different backgrounds and generations, apart from a time of prayer we were not specifically studying the bible or ‘talking of God’ but God was in that room, in the building of relationships, in the love and care shown when difficult things were shared, in the cakes baked for the occasion.

But we also found God without sharing words at all when we settled into the candlelit (and remarkably warm) church to read together in silence, and in the first session in the Transept at St Luke’s when we explored our approach to the environment through a biblical and Christian lens.

Joy Mead’s collection from which the poem is taken is called ‘Walking Our Story’ whether you are walking your story, talking your story, or reading your story in silence, I pray that you will find conversations with each other and with God that will enrich your Lenten journey as we travel together growing and learning towards the home we find in the Risen Christ.